Man Guilty In `Peep Show` Bomb Plot

August 13, 1992|By Matt O`Connor.

A California motorcycle gang member pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges that he plotted to bomb eight adult bookstores in the Chicago area in April after being promised $60,000 by the middleman for an undisclosed person. A tearful Jay Brissette, 32, admitted bringing four others with him to Chicago with the intention of shutting down the bookstores for a period of time by destroying their ``peep show`` booths.

The plan went awry on April 15, when one of Brissette`s accomplices was killed by a pipe bomb that accidentally blew up as he worked on the remote-control device in a car on the Near North Side. The victim, Donald Mares, was headed to one of the bookstores when the car exploded near Division and Dearborn Streets, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark Prosperi.

Another accomplice, Garth Cohen, is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday to federal charges, while lawyers for two others, Paul Mahn and Joe Martinez, are negotiating possible guilty pleas with prosecutors, it was revealed in court. The government disclosed numerous details about the bombing plans, but it is still unclear who hired Brissette.

Brissette is cooperating with authorities and agreed to testify before a grand jury or other court proceedings. As a result of what Prosperi called Brissette`s ``substantial cooperation,`` the government will recommend he be sentenced to 10 years in prison. He could receive a life sentence.

At Wednesday`s hearing, Prosperi told U.S. District Judge Suzanne Conlon that Brissette was hired in March to vandalize eight adult bookstores in the Chicago area ``by an individual not charged in this case.``

Brissette ``understood from conversations with this individual that a second individual was behind the individual who hired the defendant and would be providing him with the $60,000,`` Brissette`s plea agreement said.

In April, investigators delving into a Los Angeles-based pornography business with organized crime connections said they suspected the plot was orchestrated to enforce mob extortion demands on adult book dealers in Chicago.

The same middleman had previously hired Brissette to vandalize an adult bookstore in Phoenix, and Mahn and Mares had helped Brissette carry that out, Prosperi said.

Brissette admitted building test bombs and detonating them in the desert near his home in Palmdale, Calif., with the help of Cohen and several others. Cohen backed out of going to Chicago, so Brissette hired Martinez, Prosperi said.

On April 15, after flying to Chicago, the group split into two. But while Mares was en route to one of the bookstores with Mahn, one bomb exploded, killing Mares.